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Changes to numbers starting 070 on 1 October 2019

ian011

While numbers starting 071 to 075 and 077 to 079 are mobile numbers and generally count towards inclusive allowances, numbers starting 070 are defined as Personal Numbers and currently attract much higher call charges and do not count towards inclusive allowances. In some cases, calls to 070 numbers are effectively charged at premium rates.

All that is about to change.

From 1 October 2019, Ofcom has directed that the "termination rate" (aka wholesale rate) for numbers starting 070 will be reduced to be the same as that for calls to UK mobile numbers. This means a reduction from around 40p (£0.40) per minute to less than 0.48p (£0.0048) per minute.

The practical effect of this will be to allow retail providers to offer inclusive calls to personal numbers starting 070 on the same basis as calls to UK mobile numbers, or otherwise charge calls to personal numbers at the same rate as calls to UK mobile numbers.

Providers of 070 numbers will have to change their business model. Currently, an 070 number can be used to forward calls onwards to almost anywhere in the world and it is the caller that pays the additional fees for that. From 1 October 2019, it will be the user of the 070 number that will be responsible for paying for the call forwarding, not the caller.

This move should see cheaper calls to personal numbers starting 070 and the eradication of a variety of scams on this number range, not least the Wangiri scam. It will also make identity fraud more difficult.

Currently, 070 numbers are effectively untraceable call-forwarding numbers with no record of who they are registered to other than the telephone number of where the calls are forwarded to. This could be an unregistered mobile number in a far-flung country.

The requirement for the number user to start paying the call-forwarding fees means the user now has a traceable financial path and may need to provide ID to set up those payments.

As these changes are now only three weeks away, announcements should start to appear soon. These will be from two main sources. One will be from providers of 070 numbers detailing the changes as to how these numbers will work and how they will be paid for. The other will be retail landline and mobile providers updating their tariff sheets with new call charge rates as well as changes to the list of prefixes that count towards inclusive allowances.

Landline and mobile providers already offer inclusive calls to UK geographic numbers starting 01 and 02 and to non-geographic numbers starting 03. Many providers also offer inclusive calls to UK mobile numbers starting 071 to 075 and 077 to 079. From 1 October 2019, providers should be able to offer inclusive calls to personal numbers starting 070. Deals usually exclude landline and mobile numbers allocated in the Channel Isles or Isle of Man, and that will likely continue to be the case for some considerable time.

Calls to numbers starting 080 and 116 are free-to-caller on landlines and mobiles.

Calls to numbers starting 084, 087, 09 and 118 are premium rate. Callers pay an Access Charge to the benefit of their own phone provider and a Service Charge to the benefit of the called party and their telecoms provider. The premium is the additional Service Charge. Usage of these numbers is now banned for most purposes.

The changes to 070 numbers are another step in Ofcom's long running review of non-geographic call services (NGCS). Previous steps have made multiple changes to numbers starting 03, 080, 084, 087, 09, 116 and 118, among others. Very few anomalies remain. Future steps may include changes to the 055, 056 and 076 number ranges, all of which incur non-standard call charges (but are not premium rate). The 0500 range was discontinued several years ago.

In particular, the section for 070 numbers now includes the additional wording:
"From 1 October 2019, we will cap wholesale charges for connecting calls to 070 numbers. We expect this will allow phone companies to price calls to these numbers or include them in call allowances in the same way that they do for calls to mobiles."

allan1954

tagyrit

chaaaan

brulaw

chand311

ian011 very nice info and thanks for sharing updates, but how to overcome the untraceable calls will provide a safety service for criminals if? And in this scenario how giffgaff will provide security to its users?

ian011

Given all of the above, what will giffgaff be doing on 1 October 2019?

jsmith2009

Thanks for the information.
Cheers

giris12

Thanks for the information.

kenco02

My first moblie number started 0706 so not all 070 numbers were non demograpghic

ian011

Mobile numbers have never used the 070 range.

Since the Big Number Change in April 2000 the 070 range has been used only for Personal Numbers charged at a premium rate. Personal Numbers were first allocated with 070 prefixes in 1995. At that time, the rest of the 07 range was almost empty, with geographic 07xx prefixes recently migrated to 017xx ranges.

Mobile numbers have never had 070 prefixes, neither before or after the Big Number Change.

Before the Big Number Change existing mobile numbers were spread through the 03xx, 04xx, 05xx, 08xx and 09xx ranges. After about 1997 most new mobile numbers were issued within the 077xx, 078xx and 079xx ranges. Immediately after the Big Number Change all mobile numbers were confined to use only the 077xx, 078xx and 079xx ranges. Over the years, additional 075xx, 074xx and 073xx number ranges have come into use for mobile phones.

kenco02

ian011 had mine for 14 years if i can find my old phone bills ill post it..

tito6

Thanks for information

davidevans0000

Thanks for information

peterhall0012

Thanks for the tip

ian011

chand311
The called party is currently untraceable. The only thing that is known (by the telecoms provider) about the user of the 070 number is the telephone number of where the calls are forwarded to.

Fom 1 October 2019 the requirement for the user to pay for the call-forwarding will provide a traceable financial path and they may also need to provide ID to set up those payments. They will be no longer untraceable.

These changes should eliminate the Wangiri scam from the 070 number range. There will be no money to be earned from getting people to call back to missed calls.

isabel1066

Thank You for the information.

piglet1902

my t-mobile sim started 07011 so i think a few numbers slipped through

ian011

T-Mobile have never had an allocation of numbers starting 07011.

T-Mobile did have an allocation of mobile numbers starting 07811 and this is now owned by EE.